Ceremony set tomorrow for slain UNH student from Westboro

If weather conditions allow, the search for the body of Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott will resume tomorrow morning in the cold tidal waters that swirl around Peirce Island, N.H.

Associate Attorney General Jane E. Young said this afternoon conditions were the clearest they have been since the search for the University of New Hampshire student began Friday evening in the Peirce Island area.

Four New Hampshire Marine Patrol boats continued searching again this morning before 6, Ms. Young said.

“They described the conditions … as excellent,” Ms. Young said.

“They said they were able to get the clearest pictures below the surface they had in days and it was the lowest tide since they began the search.”

Four boats — two with cameras, one with side sonar and another boat searching the shoreline — were still out early in the evening, she said. A state police helicopter is assisting Marine Patrol with visual searches of the ocean, she said.

“They can search a wider area at a quicker pace than a boat can,” she said.

Tuesday, the waters were choppy, Ms. Young said, and the search was suspended.

“Searching was futile because there was no ability to see below,” she said. “Part of the challenge is they have to continue to go over the same waterway because it is an ever-moving environment and they are following tidal channels.”

Meanwhile, a memorial ceremony is scheduled to be held at 12:30 tomorrow at the University of New Hampshire.

On Monday, Ms. Marriott’s accused killer, Seth Mazzaglia, 29, of Dover, N.H., was arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the death of the University of New Hampshire student from Westboro.

Authorities revealed that they believe Ms. Marriott, 19, was strangled or suffocated the evening of Oct. 9 in Mr. Mazzaglia’s home at 1 Mill St., Apt. 341.

Ms. Young said the slaying was not random and Ms. Marriott and Ms. Mazzaglia knew each other.

Court documents in the case were sealed during Mr. Mazzaglia’s arraignment, but the newspaper Foster’s Daily Democrat reported yesterday that it had petitioned the court to release to the public police affidavits and other investigatory materials related to the case. A ruling on the motion is expected tomorrow or Friday.

Mr. Mazzaglia graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2006 with a degree in theater and was an actor and martial artist.

On Mr. Mazzaglia’s OKCupid.com profile, where he goes by the username “DarkKaiser,” he writes that he is a bit of a recluse, enigmatic and is interested in “everybody” between the ages 22 and 46 from anywhere for long-term and short-term dating, activity partners and casual sex.

“You should message me if … You want to talk. Seriously, no topic is taboo with me. I like conversation and I love ideas,” he wrote in his profile.

In the circumstances surrounding the death, Ms. Young said Mr. Mazzaglia showed “extreme indifference to human life,” but would not elaborate on what is known about the alleged murder.

Ms. Young said “credible information” investigators received led them to focus the search for her body at a lookout point on the 27-acre Peirce Island in Portsmouth, N.H. Ms. Marriott’s 2001 Mazda Tribute was found at UNH on Friday evening, Ms. Young said. The prosecutor would not provide details as to how the car got there.